Armenian Gata

Make the dough. Add the flour, baking powder, and a large pinch of salt to a food processor. Add the cubes of softened butter. The quality of the butter matters a great deal for a good flavor, so I'll keep saying it — choose a quality product. I use butter with 82% fat content.

Pulse until crumbly. If you don't have a food processor, you can simply rub the flour and butter together with your fingertips.

Add the egg and the milk with sour cream (or kefir). Kefir or a similar fermented dairy product is most commonly used for the dough. But I don't always have kefir on hand, while milk and sour cream are always in my fridge — and I generally love baked goods that include sour cream in the dough, so I substituted a mixture of the two.

Quickly bring the dough together, then gather it into a ball with your hands. Refrigerate for 20–30 minutes.

Make the filling. Melt the butter.

Add the sugar, vanilla sugar, and flour, and mix well. You should end up with a fairly thick but soft paste. If the mixture is still runny or sticky, add more flour — for example, another 20–40 grams.

Divide the filling in half, and stir the walnuts into one half (I blended them fairly finely in a blender). The filling is ready.

Divide the dough in half. Roll out the first piece into a large elongated rectangle, about 3 mm thick.

Spread the filling evenly over the dough, leaving a few centimeters uncovered along the far edge. Spreading the filling is trickier than it looks!)) Here's what I did — I crumbled it over the entire surface, pressed it down with my hands, and then smoothed it out evenly with a spatula.

Roll up into a tight log and press it down gently.

Brush with the egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl. Cut into 8 pieces. Repeat with the second piece of dough.

Transfer to a baking sheet. I ended up with 16 pieces total — 8 plain and 8 walnut.

Place in an oven preheated to 180°C and bake for approximately 20–25 minutes, or until golden.

Let cool completely before serving — warm, they're just not the same. In the photo, the plain ones are in the foreground and the walnut ones are in the back. I liked both versions equally. That small addition of walnuts shifts the flavor quite noticeably — from delicate and buttery to pleasantly nutty. I couldn't pick a favorite; both are wonderful! My little daughter Agata gave the Gata cookies her stamp of approval)) She just kept eating and raving — "Mama, your little pastries turned out so yummy!"))

On the first day, the cookies are very soft inside and crispy on the outside; by the next day they become firmer, but no less delicious. Store gata at room temperature, tightly wrapped in a bag. Gata is a wonderfully flaky pastry that both adults and kids will love!